The Best Earbuds

Updated October 26, 2018

We’ve added the results from our tests of Pioneer earbuds that didn’t make it in time for our most recent panel to the Competition section.

Your guide

Lauren Dragan

We’ve tested more than 120 wired earbuds and considered about 150 more, looking for models that sound fantastic, fit well, and are built to last a long time. We think the Campfire Audio Comet is the best set of wired earbuds under $200 because it has an accurate, natural sound, and it comes with a variety of ear tips to help you get the perfect fit, as well as a replaceable cable.

Our pick

The Comet pair delivers accurate, detailed sound, with a sense of space that’s rare for in-ear headphones. These earbuds are well-built and include a replaceable cable with a three-button remote and mic.

Buying Options

The Campfire Audio Comet pair produces a balanced sound across all frequencies, with only a slight bump in the high frequencies that adds detail to the consonants on vocals. These earbuds also offer more of a three-dimensional sense of space than the other models we tested, but bass lovers who like a little extra punch in the low frequencies may prefer the sound of our runner-up. The Comet earbuds are beautifully designed with a stainless steel body and come with a replaceable cable that features a three-button remote/mic. A wide variety of silicone and memory-foam tips ensure a secure fit for most ear shapes, and Campfire Audio offers a two-year warranty.

Buying Options

The Final E4000 earbuds are made for bass lovers. The low frequencies are very forward, but unlike most bass-heavy earbuds, the E4000 set is tuned so that the bass doesn’t swallow up male vocals or guitars. Male vocals still come across clearly, acoustic guitar still sounds rich, and higher frequencies are not piercing. Final includes optional over-ear hooks and plenty of tips, so the E4000 set fits most ears comfortably and securely. These earbuds have a replaceable cable but no remote or mic. Final protects them with a two-year warranty.

Buying Options

The Marshall Mode is the best choice if you want in-ear headphones for around $100. Although these earbuds don’t deliver the sense of space or detail of our more expensive picks, they’re unmatched in their price range, as they offer a nice oomph on the bass notes that doesn’t smear the clarity of vocals or guitar. The single-button universal remote can take calls, change tracks, and call up a digital assistant on most phones. The microphone is located higher on the cable near your face, which helps people hear you better when you take phone calls. Plus, Marshall’s one-year warranty will support you if any problems arise. (Unfortunately, none of the three-button-remote earbuds we tested in the $100 price range had pick-worthy sound quality, but 1More's Triple Driver In-Ear Headphones are the best option if that’s a must-have feature for you.)

Buying Options

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H3 is a former top pick that still holds up, especially for music with electronic instruments like rock, hip-hop, and EDM. These earbuds have a mild bass bump but don’t offer the same sense of space and aren’t quite as detailed on delicate string notes as our top pick. While our new top pick and runner-up pick come from smaller, boutique audio companies, this Bang & Olufsen model is available through mainstream retailers, often for less money than the Campfire and Final picks. The Beoplay H3 earbuds are comfortable, equipped with an iOS-friendly three-button remote and mic, and backed by a two-year warranty.

Everything we recommend

Our pick

The Comet pair delivers accurate, detailed sound, with a sense of space that’s rare for in-ear headphones. These earbuds are well-built and include a replaceable cable with a three-button remote and mic.

Why you should trust us

Not only do I hold a bachelor’s degree in both music performance and audio production from Ithaca College, but I also have tested literally hundreds of pairs of headphones while working for Wirecutter.

I spent several years in terrestrial radio before moving on to become a professional voice actor in Los Angeles, a job I still do and love. In other words, I’ve been in and out of top recording studios for over a decade. I also have reviewed high-end home-audio equipment for publications such as Home Entertainment, Home Theater Magazine, and Sound & Vision. My articles have been featured in Fast Company, Forbes, the Los Angeles Times, and Time, and on Good Morning America, the BBC World Service, and NBC Nightly News. Through all of this, I’ve gained quite a bit of insight into what’s available and what’s worth your time and hard-earned money, and I am committed to finding gear that will make you happy.

Then there’s our panel of experts: In addition to myself, we had Brent Butterworth, a Wirecutter AV writer with decades of experience in the audio field for publications such as About.com, Home Theater, Sound & Vision, and many others; John Higgins, a session musician, sound editor, and freelance writer for Wirecutter and IGN who has a master’s degree in music from the University of Southern California; and Geoff Morrison, AV editor at large for Wirecutter and writer for CNET, Forbes, and Sound & Vision, who has over a decade and a half of audio and video reviewing experience.

Who should get this

Wired earbuds are for the audio fan who is always on the move. Because extra features tack on extra money, generally you can get better sound in wired earbuds than in similarly priced wireless designs. If you want your dollars to pay for great sound rather than features like Bluetooth and noise cancelling, these models are for you. Wired earbuds should sound great, be comfortable, and be easy to pop in a pocket (in a way that you just can’t do with over-ear headphones). Ideally, they should isolate external noise so that you can listen on a noisy plane or street and not have to crank up the volume, yet still be comfortable in your ears so that you can listen for a few hours and not have your ear canals ache. One important point: Although you technically can exercise with these headphones on, they are not water or sweat resistant. You should have a separate pair of earbuds to take to the gym or out for a jog. If that’s what you need, check out our wired workout headphones guide instead.

Also, if you own or plan to purchase an iPhone X or newer, bear in mind that those phones don’t have a headphone jack, and Apple no longer includes its Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter in the box. You need to purchase one for wired earbuds to work with your device.

How we picked

Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

Good earbuds should sound even across all frequency ranges. For example, the bassline shouldn’t overpower the lead guitar, and the vocals shouldn’t have consonants that are painfully, piercingly loud. Bass notes should have pitch and form, not just sound like “whump whump whump.” Rapid successions of notes should be individually audible and shouldn’t smear together. The best earbuds replicate a sense of three dimensions, where the instruments seem to come from a point in space rather than feeling like a flat wall of sound.

Additionally, fit is of utmost importance. Not only does the fit affect the comfort of your earbuds, but it also can affect how they sound. Everyone’s ears are shaped a little differently, and it may take several attempts and combinations of tips to get the correct seal in your ear canal. Although no single earbud will fit every person, when you come across a pair of in-ear headphones that’s favored by many different people, all with very different ears, you’ve found something special.

Good earbuds should be built to last a few years, and the company that makes the headphones should be reputable. In a perfect world, nothing will ever go wrong, but if it does, you want solid customer service that will take care of your needs.

To narrow down what to test, I read a ton of reviews: pro reviews, Amazon customer reviews, and audio-blog reviews. I looked at every major manufacturer’s site to see what was new since our last update. We called in every set of earbuds that was well-reviewed, or looked promising but was too new to have been evaluated, to test. For this guide we focused on earbuds that fell between $50 and $250—a price range high enough for you to get better quality than the earbuds that may have come with your phone, but not so much money that you’d be afraid to take your new headphones out of your house.

How we tested

Since this style of earbud is designed for use on the go, our expert panel used mobile devices and laptops to listen to the contenders. Each panelist used music with which they were very familiar, consisting of a wide variety of genres. All track selections were at CD-quality sampling rates or higher. As they listened, our experts made notes on the comfort, the ease of use, and their overall opinion of each set of earbuds. Once they had chosen their top three, I shared the prices with the panelists and asked them if the cost affected their opinion of the value of their favorites. If so, they could choose to rearrange their top three accordingly.

After all of our panelists had made their picks individually, I compared the results, looking for overlapping favorites to find a pick that would make as many people happy as possible.

Our pick: Campfire Audio Comet

Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

Our pick

The Comet pair delivers accurate, detailed sound, with a sense of space that’s rare for in-ear headphones. These earbuds are well-built and include a replaceable cable with a three-button remote and mic.

Buying Options

If you prefer accurate, natural sound, the Campfire Audio Comet is for you. In our tests, these earbuds were detailed and clear from the highest strings down to the lowest kettle drum. With a myriad of tip options in both silicone and memory foam, the Comet’s fit is comfortable on a variety of ear shapes. The earbuds themselves are made of sturdy stainless steel but light enough that they don’t tug on the ear canal. The Comet’s cable has a three-button remote and mic for taking calls, and it’s replaceable, which can extend the life of your earbuds in the event of an unfortunate snag or a pet nibble. Plus, Campfire’s two-year warranty protects you if any issues crop up.

While many earbuds in this price range produce an excess of bass, the Comet is tuned very close to flat, which means that nothing sounds artificially inflated. In our tests, the bass wasn’t boosted, and with the exception of a tiny increase in the highs that added a smidgen of detail, no single pitch overshadowed the others. Although we have nothing against a fun tuning (as you get with our runner-up), with the Comet pair audio purists will be happy to know that any volume shift in a mix is courtesy of the music producer, not their headphones.

The Comet comes with 11 pairs of tips in various sizes, made of either silicone or memory foam. With that many choices, you’re much more likely to get a good fit. Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

Because of its sound profile, the Comet pair excels on acoustic instruments and live music—quick, light notes don’t blur together. It also produces a better sense of three-dimensional space than many other earbuds: Whereas other earbuds might project a wall of sound into your ears, the Comet earbuds sound a bit more like you’re listening to speakers in a room.

People who are accustomed to bumping bass might find that electronic low notes sound softer on these headphones than they are used to hearing. Our panel didn’t find this effect troubling, however. In fact, with other earbuds, male hip-hop vocalists like Jay-Z often got muffled by the intense bass, whereas through the Comet pair the vocals sounded clearer, as though they’d emerged from a fog. That said, if you like that feeling of standing next to the subwoofer, we suggest looking at our runner-up, the bass lover’s pick.

The Comet earbuds come with a detachable cable, so you can replace it if it gets damaged. Video: Kyle Fitzgerald

Campfire includes 11 pairs of tips—some made of silicone, others made of memory foam—in sizes ranging from XS to XL, so whether you have a narrow or broad ear canal, you’re likely to find tips that provide a good fit. The memory foam is mildly more isolating, but both materials can seal out a decent amount of noise with a proper fit, so you won’t need to listen at unsafe levels to drown out a noisy coffee shop or subway. Campfire includes a cleaning tool for you to remove dust and debris (aka earwax and pocket lint) from the tips and the grilles over the drivers, which can accumulate for some people over time.

There is a definite feeling of craftsmanship to the Comet’s stainless steel earbuds. They have a solid, luxurious build that contrasts with a lot of the plastic and aluminum designs of the competition. The cable even has little metal accents on the Y-split to the left and right earbud, as well as on the remote. The cable is braided, so it doesn’t tangle quite as easily as some other designs. Although all wires transfer some noise when you move, the Comet’s cable noise isn’t excessive. And if somehow you shred the cord, it’s replaceable. The microphone sounds a smidgen sibilant during phone calls, but in performance it’s on a par with others in the wired-earbud world.

Campfire Audio includes a hard-sided case with lots of cushioning inside to protect the earbuds. Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

Even the case feels luxe: It’s made of semi-hard-sided faux leather with an almost carpet-like fabric inside to cushion the earbuds from impact in a drop. Of course, even with a good case, sometimes things go wrong; if they do, a two-year warranty protects the Comet earbuds.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

As mentioned, the Comet earbuds don’t have an abundance of bass. Studies have shown that most listeners prefer what audio fans often call the “Harman curve,” which consists of a narrow boost in the lows, usually around 70 Hz, and then a slight peak in the highs around 3 kHz. An example of headphones that have this curve is our affordable over-ear headphones favorite, the Sony MDR-7506. Although the Comet has the extra treble bump, it doesn’t have the bass-note energy. A boost of just 5 to 10 decibels in the bass, making it slightly louder, would take these earbuds from excellent to perfect.

Although the mildly heavier stainless steel earbuds felt stable in our panelists’ ears, we wish the Comet design offered a wing or a hook over the ear to add stability for folks who have smaller ear canals and often find that traditional earbud shapes slowly fall out. The memory-foam tips go a long way toward mitigating this issue, however, and most people will find the Comet earbuds to be comfortable in their ears, so we didn’t think this flaw was major enough to warrant dismissal.

Buying Options

If our pick is sold out, or if you prefer a more pronounced bassline, the Final E4000 is a great choice. These earbuds aren’t as accurate as our top pick, but they are a lot of fun to listen to. In our tests, the bass was intense but not bloated: It didn’t swallow up male vocals or guitars like so many of its competitors that claimed to be made for bass lovers. Final includes five sizes of silicone tips ranging from XS to XL, as well as optional over-ear silicone hooks, so every ear size can get a comfortable and secure fit. The aluminum earbud housing is lightweight, and the replaceable cable doesn’t make a ton of noise when you move. Like our top pick, the E4000 is covered by a two-year warranty. But unlike our top pick, it doesn’t include a remote or mic, so you’ll need to pull your device out of your pocket or bag to change tracks, adjust volume, or take calls.

The E4000’s boost in the bass notes is prominent but focused. Just because the bass guitar and kick drum are louder doesn’t mean you can’t hear the lyrics that the vocalist is singing or the riff that the guitarist is playing. Male vocals did sound a tad recessed on bass-forward songs in our tests, but unlike other earbuds that are described as bass-boosted, this pair didn’t increase the low frequencies in a blurry, bloated, reverby way.

Final includes five sizes of silicone tips, plus optional over-ear silicone hooks to help keep the E4000 earbuds securely in place. Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

Aside from the bass, the E4000 earbuds sounded relatively neutral to our panel. They seemed to produce a few narrow boosts in the highs that helped add detail to snare hits and consonants, but they avoided the piercing highs that many other earbuds utilize to simulate detail. Live music had a better-than-average sense of space, too. Hip-hop and electronic music were the most fun for us to listen to through the E4000, but the bottom-heavy tuning didn’t mar acoustic music. Tubas and kettle drums may sound a bit louder than you recall, but strings, piccolos, and brass are clear and detailed.

Final includes silicone tips in a variety of sizes, so most people will be able to get a comfortable seal. The silicone doesn’t isolate as much noise as the memory-foam tips included with the Campfire Comet, but it’s enough to acceptably reduce the hum of an air conditioner or the buzz of voices around you. If you want to diminish more external noise, you can purchase Comply Isolation tips for the E4000. In addition, the included optional silicone hooks allow you to thread the cable up and over your ear for a more secure fit, although the aluminum earbud chassis is lightweight and doesn’t tend to tug down on the ear canal; wearing style is a matter of preference rather than necessity.

The E4000 earbuds come with a soft, flexible silicone case. We don’t like how easily the case can pop open. Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

The E4000’s cable is replaceable, but it doesn’t have a remote or microphone. It is, however, lightweight, and it transfers very little noise when you move around. The overall design feels pragmatic rather than luxurious, but you don’t get the feeling that these earbuds will break on you easily.

The included silicone case isn’t our favorite design. It can easily pop open in a bag, it isn’t the best at keeping out dust, and it feels as if Final's designers were trying to reinvent the wheel when a simple zippered case would have worked just fine. If anything goes wrong, Final covers the E4000 for two years. Outside of the warranty, you can purchase additional cables direct from Final by contacting the company at info@finalaudiousa.com.

Buying Options

If you want great-sounding earbuds under $100, we love the Marshall Mode. These earbuds fit all of our testers well, and they have a mellow, full sound with a mildly but pleasantly boosted low-frequency range. This pair is well-suited to all kinds of music but especially shows off its skill with rock and hip-hop. Although the Mode lacks the precision and sense of space of our top picks, none of the similarly priced competitors we tested were able to best it.

The Mode had more bass in our tests than was strictly natural, but acoustic guitar, strings, and piano were unaffected. Only on songs with already intense lows—generally, electronic and hip-hop music—did the increase in bass volume show itself. In contrast with many earbuds in this price range, the Mode never sounded blurry, muddy, or smeared. Guitars and male vocals weren’t lost in the mix. High notes and consonants on vocals avoided the piercing sibilance that afflicted many other headphones we tested. You’ll still easily hear snare and cymbal hits, as well as consonants on words, but they won’t dominate the soundscape or hurt your ears when you’re listening at higher volumes. The Mode lacks the crisp detail and three-dimensional sense of space of the Campfire Audio Comet and the Final E4000, sounding slightly coarse in comparison, but it also costs half the price.

The Marshall Mode comes with four sizes of silicone tips, and all of our testers were able to get a good fit with one of the tip options. Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

The Mode is thoughtfully designed: The single-button remote has a permanent but unobtrusive shirt clip to keep it from bouncing around when you walk, and the microphone is located separately, higher up on the left-ear cable so that it’s closer to your mouth. This means you won’t have to shout or hold the remote up to your face to have callers hear you clearly. Although the remote handles play/pause, voice commands, and track skipping on most devices, some Android users may find that the track skipping doesn’t work as well; unfortunately, this is a common issue between Android and universal remotes. We’d love a device-specific three-button remote, but not so much that we’d ignore the Mode’s great sound and price. If you really need a three-button remote, 1More's Triple Driver In-Ear Headphones are probably your best option in the under-$100 price range, but they don't sound as good as the Mode.

The cable is rubber coated; although it transfers some noise, it’s not distracting when you walk around. The earbuds themselves have a classic, modest look and are low profile and lightweight, so they don’t hang out of the ear canal or drag down uncomfortably. They come with four sizes of silicone tips, and all of our panelists found a set that worked for them. The tips reduce a moderate amount of noise, so you won’t need to crank the volume to block out traffic or coffee-shop noises.

Marshall backs this earbud pair with a one-year warranty. Although the Mode is not indestructible, it should last you beyond its one-year anniversary if you care for it properly. In the time since these earbuds first became our sub-$100 pick, Marshall has reported some issues with possible knockoffs reaching retailers. This is why we highly recommend buying from the Marshall site or authorized resellers so that you aren’t stuck with subpar build quality or replacement issues in the event something does go wrong.

Buying Options

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H3 is a former pick that’s still worthy of consideration. Although these earbuds lack the sense of space of the Campfire Comet and the exciting bassline of the Final E4000, this set sounds nearly as good, is easier to find through mainstream retailers, and often costs less. These earbuds have an Apple-certified three-button remote/mic, and in our tests they fit comfortably in all of our panelists’ diverse ear shapes. Although they don’t have a replaceable cable like our top picks, they do have the same warranty coverage time of two years.

In our tests, the Beoplay H3 produced slightly rolled-off highs and very slightly less-defined bass. As a result, consonants on vocals sounded as if they had been recorded several inches from (rather than right next to) the microphone, and a bassline might sound more “wuh” than “buh.” Neither issue was overt. For anyone listening to classical and jazz, this lighter hand on treble and bass won’t be noticeable. It’s more with rock, hip-hop, and pop, where you might expect an extra punch on the top and bottom notes, that you’ll probably notice the ever-so-slight coloration. That said, syllables on lyrics didn’t pierce through the mix, and strings sounded smooth and authentic. Additionally, the Beoplay H3 is capable of rendering notes with rapid attack and decay, which means it can deftly handle quick and delicate notes such as pizzicato strings.

This tuning makes the Beoplay H3 especially well-suited for listening to jazz, classical, and anything with acoustic instruments (think instruments that amplify themselves, such as brass and strings, as opposed to electric bass or synthesizers). To anyone accustomed to headphones with boosted highs, the Beoplay H3 can sound somewhat warm, but our panelists found its overall sound to be very pleasant.

With a proper fit, the Beoplay H3’s silicone ear tips offer a decent amount of noise isolation—enough that you probably won’t hear someone speaking to you when you’re listening to music at a low to medium volume level. However, if you’re trying to block out back-of-the-plane engine noise or standing directly next to traffic, check out our noise-cancelling earbuds picks.

Despite a metal chassis, the Beoplay H3 set is lightweight and very comfortable in the ears. The cable is thin and won’t transfer noise when you move, and the three-button remote/mic unit is easy to use, with a nice satin, tactile grip. The mic sounds fine; your callers will hear you, but it isn’t anything revolutionary. Like all Bang & Olufsen products, the Beoplay H3 feels well-crafted, and the company backs that up with a two-year warranty.

What to look forward to

Beyerdynamic announced the Soul Byrd, which will have a universal three-button remote and mic and is expected to cost around $95, but the company hasn’t yet stated a release date.

The competition

Each time we update this guide, we remove from this section any headphones that are no longer current. So this is not a complete list of every set of earbuds we’ve considered over the past four years.

1More Dual Driver: John was the only one of our panelists who enjoyed the Dual Driver earbuds. Brent couldn’t get a good seal, and Geoff and I both found the high frequencies to be too harsh and the mids to be recessed. However, John mentioned that he felt the earbuds might fall out of his ear, so perhaps fit affected the sound quality for him as well.

1More Triple Driver: This model is boosted in both the bass and upper-treble frequency regions, so on electronic music, hip-hop, and similarly mixed songs, our panel thought the sound could get a bit overpowering on the bottom and sibilant on the top. Songs with already-forward low bass notes could sound so loud that they’d overpower some of the guitar strums. Similarly, the consonants on vocals felt a little unnaturally forward.

1More Quad Driver: The mids and highs were nice, but the bloated, muddy bass smeared acoustic-guitar sound, and male vocals were buried.

AKG N20U: If we had to use one word to describe the N20U, it would be “almost.” Brent, Geoff, and I mostly liked the sound, which consisted of a slightly boosted bass, even mids, and mostly pleasant highs. What went wrong? One section of the highs had a jabbing sibilant quality that ruined what could otherwise have been a great-sounding set of headphones. Also, the earbud shape felt unstable in several panelists’ ears.

Audeze iSine LX: We know these headphones won’t be the ones you take with you every day; they're weird looking, they don't seal out sound, and their over-ear hooks kind of pinch. But we were willing to consider them if the sound turned out fantastic. Unfortunately, although the highs were dexterous and clear, we detected a hole in the mids, and the lows were severely lacking.

Audio-Technica ATH-CKR90iS: The highs had an uneven quality that made some notes piercing while giving others a shushing feel. The low notes were forward in the mix and lacked definition. These earbuds are just okay—nothing about them is great.

Beats urBeats3: The fit on these earbuds was solid for us, and the semi-firm wings are a great stability feature. You can tell these headphones are made with quality drivers, but in our tests the tuning had too much of a bump in the highs and lows. The reverby bass made Kanye sound as if he were performing in a swimming pool, and the highs were in your face.

Beyerdynamic iDX 120 iE: Unfortunately, the iDX 120 iE didn’t live up to our expectations. The bass was forward and sounded as if it had reverb on it, and the treble had a hissing, unrefined quality.

Beyerdynamic iDX 160 iE: Beyerdynamic is usually known for a crisp high end. This pair, however, seemed more mid-forward; as a result, guitars overpowered vocals, and the entire sound ended up kind of muddy. The bass, perhaps because there were no highs to contain it, sounded bloated and formless. Overall we were underwhelmed.

Beyerdynamic iDX 200 iE: In comparison with our top picks, these earbuds had a two-dimensional quality, lacking dynamic range. Additionally, a bass peak dulled the mids, and the highs were a touch sibilant. Decent, but not quite as balanced as the earbuds we chose.

Bowers & Wilkins C5 Series 2: These earbuds had loads of bass. When a song with a kicking bassline started thumping, we began to lose some of the detail in the vocals, cymbals, and such. If these earbuds had been more comfortable, we might have chosen them as a bass lover’s option, but the fit is likely to cause issues for some people. The security-loop design is best suited for folks with smaller ear canals; most others will likely find that long listening sessions make their outer ears ache.

Brainwavz B150: This pair caused some fit issues for our panel, which in turn affected the way we experienced the sound. Part of the panel couldn’t get the ear tip into their ear canal deeply enough to seal, due to the shape of the plastic housing. For those folks, the bass was lacking. Other panelists found that the high notes didn’t sound as delicate and clear as they’d like.

Brainwavz B400: The highs and mids sounded great but were not supported by any lows. The result sounded as if someone had turned the EQ bass dial all the way down.

Brainwavz S3: Brent and I both had issues getting a seal with the S3, even using the largest tips—we could get one side to seal well, but the other we had to hold in place. If we let go of the cable, the weight of the metal chassis would pull the earbuds out of our ears. Fit aside, all of our panelists found that the S3 had a thin-sounding vocal range, and the lows were too rounded off. It made stringed instruments (guitar included) lack richness and depth. The S3 wasn’t terrible, but it was flawed enough for us to keep it off our list of top picks.

Brainwavz S5: The S5 had an intense high-end peak, both at 3 kHz and somewhere around 6 kHz, that could be fatiguing to folks who are sensitive to higher frequencies. This pair also emphasizes any flaws in recording, so if you’re listening to something with a tape hiss (as some older, pre-remastered recordings from before 1980 have), you’ll notice it a lot more. These headphones just weren’t quite good enough to beat out our top choices.

Creative Aurvana In-Ear2 Plus: Thin middle frequencies and diminished bass left the In-Ear2 Plus feeling really top heavy. Kick drums, for example, had a “pa-pa-pa” sound rather than “boom-boom-boom,” and everything else ended up sounding as though it were coming from an inexpensive speaker.

Denon AH-C720: So much reverby bass. The highs were quite peaked, and that was the only reason that vocals didn't get completely lost. We detected an icy sibilance to the highs that caused inhalations of vocalists to have a metallic quality. These earbuds offer enough separation in the mids and lows that you can distinguish guitar from bass, but to us it sounded as though both instruments were playing in an echo chamber.

Echobox Audio Finder X1: These headphones have several filters that alter the sound, but none of them was a home run for our panel. We found the “balanced” filter to be blurry in the lows, and the bass-forward filter produced way too much bass. The third filter made the highs sound bright and coarse.

Echobox Audio Traveler T1: You have to really shove these pieces into your ears to get a seal, since the stem that holds each earbud isn't very long. We heard a weird peak in the highs that highlighted recording imperfections and added a sizzly quality to snare and hi-hat sounds, and the bass was very forward and boomy.

Etymotic ER3SE:The highs and mids were lovely, but songs where the bass should have been present were missing oomph. Even if we messed with an equalizer and tried to turn up the bass, it was as though someone had forgotten to plug in the subwoofer.

Final E3000: Our panel quite liked these earbuds but found that the bass was just a little too heavy and blurry, and it tended to cover the recessed mids.

Final F3100: This pair had a noisy cable and nonexistent lows that emphasized consonants and recording flaws.

Grado iGi: The iGi includes a variety of unusually shaped tips, yet Brent and I couldn’t get a seal with any of them. Our panel agreed that the high frequencies were not only too intense but also too harsh and sibilant. “S” sounds especially pierced on this pair. Although the mids and lows were lovely, the incredible spike in the consonant range was far too fatiguing for us to be able to listen to this set for long periods.

KEF M100: The highs were a touch sibilant, and the bulbous tips proved to be a fit problem for half of our panel.

Klipsch R6i: These earbuds have a tip shape that is specific to the Klipsch brand. It never fit Brent, and none of us on the panel were happy with the fit, so we didn’t think we could evaluate the sound properly.

Klipsch X6i: The lows sounded a little dull and blurry, and the highs were kind of shushing to our panel’s ears. The biggest issue was that none of our panelists felt like they had a secure seal.

Marshall Mode EQ: The Mode EQ has a little switch on the side of the remote that toggles between what Marshall describes as a “warm sound” and a “brighter sound.” Although our panel didn’t dislike the Mode EQ, we didn’t like either option more than the sound of the standard Mode earbuds. We felt the low frequencies were a bit overstated on the “warm” setting and the highs a bit jagged on the “bright” setting. Overall, we found the standard Mode to be our favorite of the Marshall in-ear models.

Massdrop NuForce EDC: The lows on these earbuds sounded pretty good, but we heard a spike in the highs that made high notes sizzly, sibilant, and piercing when we turned the volume up.

Massdrop NuForce EDC3: Our panel found the bass to be thudding and one-note, and the highs uneven in a way that sounded unnatural. Snaps on a snare drum’s edge sounded like “thap!” rather than “clack."

Master & Dynamic ME05: The highs on the ME05 had an icy edge, and panelists agreed that this pair had a bit too much bass for our tastes. We didn’t dislike it by any means, but we liked other headphones better.

MEE Audio M6 Pro 2nd Generation: We liked the sweat resistance of this pair but found the highs and lows pushed forward in a way that sounded unnatural. Although that effect may be helpful for someone on stage who needs vocals and the beat to be the most clear when performing, we didn’t love it for passive music enjoyment.

MEE Audio Pinnacle P1: Oh dear. These earbuds were a sizzly, piercing mess. The high highs were so peaked. Have you ever moved the “definition" slider on a photo editing program all the way up, to the point where it looks like there’s a dark outline on everything? That’s how unnatural this pair sounded.

MEE Audio Pinnacle P2: No one on our panel was able to get a comfortable fit with these earbuds, despite their being designed to be worn with the cable either threaded over the ear or hanging down. “S” sounds were overemphasized, and the bass was mildly muffled.

Monoprice MP80: This pair has filters that adjust the sound, but we didn’t care for any of them. The "balanced" filter gave a piercing and tinny quality to the highs while leaving the bass unfocused and seeming to have no pitch. The "voice forward" filter made vocals sound as if they were in a tin can. As for the bass-boost filter, the bass on songs that already had a lot of bass became so loud and reverby that the only other thing we could hear aside from bass was consonants.

Monoprice Monolith M300: We were not fans of these headphones. The highs were weirdly dull, and the lows were blurry and muddy, as if everything were under a wet blanket. The fit wasn’t comfortable and tended to shift a lot in the ear canal, which also affected the sound quality.

NAD Viso HP20: These earbuds are decent. They’re not strictly neutral—in our tests, the lows could sound as if they had a touch of extra reverb, which added some spaciousness. Unfortunately, the earbuds’ bullet-shaped chassis forced two of our panelists to push the tips quite far into their ear canals to get a proper seal, and these earbuds also lacked the overall detail of our top picks.

Optoma NuForce HEM1: The fit was a major problem with this pair. Only one of our panelists was able to get a comfortable fit, and those who didn’t disliked the sound. The highs were a bit forward, and the lows sounded somewhat dull. If you can’t get a proper seal from these earbuds, you lose all the bass.

Optoma NuForce HEM2: This set reproduced mids and lows well but had a spike on the highs that affected “s” sounds on consonants. This effect can be fatiguing for folks who are sensitive to high frequencies.

Periodic Audio Mg: The highs on these earbuds were quite nice: clear and crisp, not sizzly or piercing. But the bass was just too bloated and loud, muffling all the great qualities the Mg had to offer.

Periodic Audio Ti: We weren’t in love with the sound. There was a strange peak in the highs that made snare drum hits sound as if the instruments were made of another material, and classical acoustic guitar had a metallic twang. The addition of bloated bass didn’t help the overall sonic profile.

Phiaton MS 100 BA: Affordable and sporting a single-button remote, the MS 100 BA would have been a pick if it weren’t for the sibilant highs. Everyone on the panel noticed them and found them fatiguing. It produces a slight dip in the male vocal range too, so if you turn up the volume on a man singing, “s” sounds really pierce. A near-miss.

Phiaton MS 300 BA: The MS 300 BA underwhelmed. The highs were just too piercing and harsh, specifically on consonants and cymbal hits, for us to listen at length comfortably. Plus, Brent couldn’t get a seal—not because of the tips, but because the shape of the earbud chassis prevented him from getting the pieces properly seated in his ears.

Pioneer SE-CH5T: This pair sounded best with Comply foam tips, but even then, bloated lows muffled electric guitar and the lower half of the piano range, and the highs had a somewhat sibilant quality. When we used the silicone tips, the flaws were magnified, with an even boomier bass and lispy syllables on consonants.

Pioneer SE-CH9T: The bass on this pair was too blurry and too loud—it completely covered the male vocals. Acoustic music sounded as if we were in an echoey stairwell with the singer and guitar.

RBH EP2: A former pick. The slight bass bump and dynamic sound still make it a quality pair of headphones. But progress happens, and when we compared the EP2 against our winners, we found that it lacked the flat, even sound and extra detail in the highs that we could hear from the best in the category.

RHA S500i: Despite the lovely build quality, our panel didn’t care for the sound. Acoustic guitar and female voices sounded pretty good but resonant. Once we added some bass to the mix, everything became blurry, sloppy, and boomy. RHA boosted the highest highs in an attempt to compensate and add definition; as a result, however, consonants on words pierced through the blurry overall sound like a stick poking out of a cloud.

RHA T10i: These earbuds have filters that allow you to acoustically EQ the sound, but the T10i just didn’t sound good to us, no matter which filter we used. In our tests, Brent remarked that the colorations to the sound were so numerous and varied that it was difficult for him to even describe what was wrong.

RHA T20i: The T20i has several filters, but our panel wasn’t impressed with any of them. All of them bestowed a quality to the highs that made vocals sound lispy, and recessed mids made guitars sound as if they were farther away than the rest of the music.

V-Moda Forza Metallo: This set wasn’t a favorite for our panel. Dull, lifeless bass and coarse-sounding highs made music sound unbalanced and overly hyped.

V-Moda Zn: The cable has a heavy decorative widget that tugs on the earbuds when you walk, so they feel as though they might fall out of your ears. In our tests, although female vocals and strings sounded clear and detailed, we heard a high peak on “t” and “s” sounds that was piercing. Additionally the bass had a reverby quality that caused basslines to lose clarity.

Yamaha EPH-M100: Unrefined lows produced a lack of depth and dimension on the M100. Voices sounded thin and unsupported, and the upper mids were harsh.

Yamaha EPH-M200: Ideally, you want your headphones to be even-sounding across all frequency ranges, a flat line from bass to treble. In contrast, the M200 created a craggy mountain range of peaks and valleys. The mid frequencies were recessed, and the lows and highs had a few spikes that made bass instruments sound blobby. Voices sounded simultaneously muffled in the vocal range yet sizzling on the consonants.

Wirecutter is a list of wonderful things by Brian Lam and friends, founded in 2011 and a part of The New York Times Company since 2016. Have a question? Just ask.